I took Friday 7 December off, and Marian took a half day off, and after lunch we took the tram into town and jumped on the 3:15 train at Piccadilly Station bound for London. After arriving at Euston Station at 5:30, we made it across town in the tube, emerging at Balham Station. After a nice Sri Lankan dinner, we walked to my cousin Viv and her fiance Sunil's flat on Cavendish Rd, Balham.
The following morning we took the tube to Leicester Square, where we queued in the cold London drizzle at the half-price ticket booth to purchase tickets for a musical that evening . The selection of shows wasn't fantastic, but we got half-price tickets to "Cabaret" so we were happy.
We then met up with some friends - Ange, who Marian and I worked with at MWH in Christchurch, and who is now working in London, Eunice, who Marian worked with in Christchurch, and her boyfriend Keith, and Kevin, brother of Marian's friend Owen (who is an Australian working in Christchurch). We all managed to meet up in Cafe Nero in Haymarket for a coffee, after which we spent a good hour and a half in the National Gallery taking in some of the astounding paintings (as well as staying out of the rain).
We then retired to a nearby pub (Irish as it happened) for a late lunch.
Ange and Me
Eunice and Maz
Kev, Keith and Eunice
St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, (built 1638)
Inside the Covent Garden Market
Merry-Go-Round, Leicester Square
Trafalgar Square (Big Ben in the Distance)
The following day, Marian and I had a walk along the banks of the Thames, from the Tower of London to the Houses of Parliament. It was nice to take in the London skyline.
Some dude doing the old "statue" routine - he was actually pretty good.
To round off the day's sightseeing, and for my nostalgia's sake, we took a tube to Kensington and had a pint at the pub where I worked way back - the Rat and Parrot - now going by the name of the White Swan. It felt strange being back, a little familiar but in a vague, distantly remembered kind of way. It was good to be back though.
